Mah Jongg is not just a game. It has become a part of my life that allows me to entertain my Mah Jongg-playing friends, cook great meals to serve to them and test my mental skills during our game play (which, hopefully, is often).

THINKING OF THE OMs…

Although the OMs didn’t get together for game play this week, they were still on my mind, as always. Yesterday I spent the better part of the day canning jars of my Gingered Pear and Cranberry Sauce with Amaretto to give out to the group next week in time for their Thanksgiving dinners. I have been making this sauce every year since around 1976 – I was living in Los Angeles then and my dear friend Jan shared this special recipe with me. I have been making it ever since and it really is the best cranberry sauce I have ever tasted. It is so good on turkey but also works on chicken and pork. S2 tells me that she even likes it on ice cream! So, I thought I would share it all with you. Yes, it is time consuming but the effort is well worth the results. And, as you can see, I have already been sampling!

I love using customized labels – you can order them from the Evermine website

GINGERED PEAR & CRANBERRY SAUCE WITH AMARETTO

The amounts below are for a double recipe

2 c. water

1 1/2 c. sugar

1 t. ground ginger

2 medium pears, peeled, cored & diced

4 c. whole cranberries

juice & zest of 2 lemons

1/2 c. Amaretto

Combine 1st 3 ingredients in medium saucepan and stir briefly just until sugar is dissolved.

Boil for 5 minutes.

Add pear, reduce heat and simmer for 3 minutes.

Add cranberries, lemon juice and zest and continue simmering WITHOUT STIRRING until berries pop. Remove from heat and stir in Amaretto.

Here are the contents of about 4 bags of cranberries as I wash and drain them. I usually end up using about 8 bags of cranberries, 12 lemons, 12 pears and a bottle of Amaretto to make somewhere between 16 – 18 jars of sauce. BTW, because of the alcohol content in this sauce, it lasts forever in the refrigerator and doesn’t spoil. However, the jar is usually empty by the end of the Thanksgiving holiday!

As you can see, I make two double batches at the same time. When all is said and done, I do this three times for a total of six double batches. Here is the beginning of step one with the water, sugar, and ginger coming to a boil. I use just a bit less sugar than is called for in the recipe.

A number of years ago I bought this swell gadget from Williams Sonoma called the Professional Multi-Chopper that slices, dices, chops, etc. It makes the most perfect and uniform cubes of pears. Before I had this utensil, it would take SO long to chop up those pears into small cubes. This is such a welcome kitchen tool even though I basically only use it once a year to cube up the pears for this recipe!

And here is the end result of the two pears for each double batch – perfectly diced pears!

After the sugar, water, and ginger boil for 5 minutes I then add the pears and let them simmer for three minutes.

Then the lemon juice, zest, and cranberries are added and the waiting game begins…but it doesn’t take long before they start popping!

Once they have all popped I turn off the heat, add the Amaretto, and pour it all into a big bowl to cool and start to gel.

Once everything is poured into the sterilized jars, I wait for it to cool off and then refrigerate the jars until the OMs meet next Wednesday when I give them all jars of the sauce.

Again, although it is time consuming, this cranberry sauce is definitely worth the time and trouble. Let me know if you have any questions or comments! Now I am off to sneak another spoonful!!